This is what happens when you vote democrats into office. They crap on the military. Clinton did it too. Under Bush, my husband got a HUGE bonus and now... NOTHING. But the liberals in government can give themselves paid vacations and exemptions. Not that republicans are saints, but they DO know how to take better care of the military. I can't believe anyone who serves would even consider voting democrat. Might as well work for free!

Supply and demand is most certainly political. Democrats are notorious for minimizing the military. They minimize them and then find ways not to pay them. They'll tell you it's because of economics, but that would be yet another lie.

This is what happens when you vote democrats into office. They crap on the military. Clinton did it too. Under Bush, my husband got a HUGE bonus and now... NOTHING. But the liberals in government can give themselves paid vacations and exemptions. Not that republicans are saints, but they DO know how to take better care of the military. I can't believe anyone who serves would even consider voting democrat. Might as well work for free!

I agree 100% - I want to get my citizenship before Nov so badly.. (As if my measly little vote would make a difference!) :)

Infantry did great bonus, just depended what part of the infantry you were. And excessive number of military personal is always needed. Obama will down size and depending on who wins the election they will build it back up again. No matter what is going on we should always have a big strong military ready for anything. I would think this way even if I wasnt a spouse of a Marine. Downsizing and taking money from training our military and supplies is asking for trouble. Some countries are just waiting for the right moment to try and knock America down we need to always be ready to fight.

Where did I say that? There didn't really used to be bonuses. Then we needed more military due to the conflicts. Bonuses were upped as needed to keep people reenlisting until numbers were being met. Due to both the economy and less military now being needed, they no longer need to offer as high of bonuses in order to keep the numbers required. Bonuses are not part of the benefits that are promised to anyone when they join. My father did 30 years and never once had a bonus.

Or if they really want a big bonus they can LAT MOVE to that MOS and get the bonus. Big bonuses that have been consistent for ever are Intel, ATC, and EOD obviously. There are alot more too. Once the Marine Corps has finished down sizing, or anohter war starts, the bonuses will be like they were last decade or more.

From an unpolitical vantage point, bonuses are offered to MOSs that typical have a high degree of seperations. They are offered to keep Marines in that field, sometimes any rank, sometimes only the higher ranks. Which is why some bonuses are available for e3s and some are only available to e5 and above.

It is a supply and demand process. An mos that has few marines seperating are has many marines lat moving into it will not need a bonus because they don't to offer an incentive. Currently with the economy there are fewer bonuses because there are more people joining the military than ever before.

As a matter of fact, entrance requirements are twice as hard in previous years because our numbers are what they are. My husband turns applicants away all the time for the smallest things like tattoos and such. This is just good bussiness for the military. It has little to do with actually thanking someone for their service. If you notice the higher bonuses are paid to MOS that would have a higher salary rate in the civilian sector. To keep that experience and knowledge in that mos the military has to pay a bonus to offset the difference. Or they have to pay a bonus in a physically demanding field where Marines do not wish to continue service.

My husband doesn't have an MOS like that. He got one bonus in the last 12 years and won't be receiving one when he reenlists next month either. The one he did receive was back when there were huge numbers of Marines separating so the USMC had bonus for many fields. With the economy the way it is there is little need for a bonus in most jobs these days. Marines are staying in for job security and medical benefits.

For those that have been around long enough or truly know how our military works, you would know that as we currently stand, our military truly is far too large. It isn't about Democrat vs Republican as much as it is about how much it is costing us per day to have 50,000 LCpl/Cpl/Sgt Schmucks sitting in the states with no need to deploy them. Tack onto that the cost of housing for their families, meal cards, barracks, etc etc and the total price goes through the roof.

Now the whole bonus issue is completely ridiculous. There are FEW jobs that should actually even rate a bonus. This is an all volunteer force, so why bribe somebody to stay? Where we shoot ourselves in the foot is not being a self sufficient military like we used to be. Contractors are now a HUGE part of how our military operates. From the chow hall, to the intel analysts, to the comm techs, I can go on for days. Our young Marines see Joe the contractor making 6 figures for doing the same job he is. Of COURSE it's going to be tempting to leave the Corps and chase the money. Now if we didnt use contractors and overpay THEM, then all of our qualified Marines wouldn't be leaving.

You also have to look at the quality of Marines (I only speak of the branch I know) that wear our uniform today. The quality is much lower than it has been in decades because of our need to up our numbers because of multiple conflicts. If the Marine Corps wouldn't have lowered its standards of who it allowed in, your husbands would all be doing 13 month deployment after 13 month deployment after 13 month deployment.

I will leave you all with this; As you or your husband get closer to the end of contract have them take a long hard look at themselves and see how competitive they really are in the civilian world. The majority of our Marines are way behind the power curve when it comes to civilian jobs. We as Marines think we are over qualified far too often. The reality is that eas'ing Marines are on average 22-25 years of age, with little to no education, little to no "real world" experience but can usually take direction like no other. What better fit than the military?

Unfortunately quality of marine has nothing to do with it anymore. Far to many good marines are leaving or being forced out now a days. And far to many "sit on your thumb all day" marines are being promoted. It has nothing to do with job performance, and leadership abilities. It has everything to do with everything to do with being a rear end kisser. It is a sad thing to see happen. Let's just hope it doesn't come back to bite the country in the rear.

Getting promoted does not have to deal with butt kissing. People who say this are usually the ones that dont try hard enough, dont give anything extra to there job and just do what they have to get by. Than complain because they havent gotten promoted. In reality right now promotions are all about how many people are in a MOS at specific ranks. Just because someone works hard at there job does not make them a butt kisser. You like your job and want to get promoted its hard work. Same as the civilian world.

Oh my goodness, your right. Why had I never thought about that before?!?!?! I always thought that the silly staff sgt. Who got a dui 4 months after being promoted, who has been removed from his leadership position 3 times, and is an all around douch never got busted down or njp'ed because he hangs out and drinks with the silly little master guns, who also gets dui's, & cheats on his wife with an officer. I never thought it was because he was a "good marine".

I also never thought that the 4 other marines who have never been in trouble, never even gotten a adverse fit rep, deployed multiple times, all have had numerous personal awards, were still being forced out because they didn't try hard enough. Hum my bad!

Alisa, your posts make you seem pretty bitter and I am going out on a limb to assume that your husband is being forced out.

Now as to all the other claims you make in regards to the SSgt and the MGuns getting relieved, DUI convictions, adultery etc etc they make your argument even worse. Unless you have eyes on their OMPF/SRB and can prove anything, they just make you sound angry.

As to your claim that quality of Marine has nothing to do with it, you will see in time that I am correct. The Marines that you see today are the leaders of tomorrow. Fortunately with the down sizing, boat spaces are getting to be fewer, as are allocations for promotions. With time, you will see the Marine Corps back to it's prime. Meanwhile, unfortunately, there will be SOME collateral damage by the way of SOME good Marines getting forced out. Those will be few while many will claim the opposite.

The increase in the number of Marines has correlated the lack of good Marines around. Plain and simple. I have seen it first hand and see it every single day where I work.Some butt kissing does go into being promoted. If you have a friend who just so happens to be on the board, you have a much higher chance of being looked at and promoted than some guy who has the same record. Just how it is and that is the same in the civilian world.The fact that the USMC is downsizing has nothing to do with politics and more to do with supply and demand as stated. If we are at war, we need to up our numbers to meet the demand. SUPPLY AND DEMAND.Yes, some presidents are more military friendly but Obama has a large deficit to fix and the military takes more than it should right now. As stated before, too many people, too much housing, too much everything when it's no longer needed.Also, bonuses are where they are for a reason. When my husband enlisted, his 0311 MOS was 54,000 dollars. Now it is zero. The reason is because we are ending the war, we no longer need grunts. EOD is so high STILL because it is a very hard, demanding, and high mortality rated job. That will not change because they still need to attract people to that job.

First off the SNCO's don't write the fitness reports that recommend anyone for promotion or not...they CAN at the direction of their OIC, but he only signs off on it IF he agrees with it.

Plus, there's tons of pressure to write more accurate reports now, and actually non-rec people for promotion or retention. Just a year ago DH was being told by his old Company CO to "correct" some reports to show higher marks, that weren't necessarily earned by certain individuals. Higher marks made the Company Commander look good for HIS promotion to Major. Marines are nothing but pieces on a chessboard to those guys.

What you need to do is learn to play their game....

If a career is what you want, deployments and awards aren't enough anymore. Plenty of people have those and still manage to be 9 to 5 Marines when they are stateside. You need to attract positive attention to yourself up through the chain of command, not just your SNCO who's drinking buddies with whoever. Get involved in the community, go to school, be the guy who volunteers for family days etc, instead of hitting the exit at 90 mph. Initiate a work out group or lead a morning fitness run once a week....anything to make YOU look good to them.

Yes, my husband is being forced out. He has done volunteering both out in the community, and on base. He is the one that will drive back into town on Christmas eve to fix someone elses mistake. He has been given the personal awards he has because he is a great marine. He is one of those marines that signed up to serve his country, not because of the benefits. I know that there are many mos's that promote for honorable reasons. His mos is not one of them. Every marine he came into the corp with is a snco, and the likely reason he did not get promoted is because he was not able to complete a b billet. As much as hr loves the corp he loves what he does more and has been unwilling to change his mos to stay in. The last 12+ years have been an amazing experience, but I think we are both ready to start a new chapter. With that being said...

I know the reasons why my husband didn't get promoted. The reason I said what I did above is because we have watch many other great marines being forced out. These are marines who I would want to have protecting my family after we move on. These other marines deserve to be marines. They have earned their stripes. Where there are other (like the 2 people I mentioned) who don't deserve the right to have the title U.S. Marine. The reason I know about these 2 people is because at one point they were a part of outlet life. I watched as one family feel apart, and watched the other marine (the duche) grow a god complex because nothing happened to him.

As much as the downsizing has to do with supply n demand, at some point the demand will go back up. The sacrry part for me is that it will be marines like the 2 mentioned above who will still be in and the marines who served (13/15/16/18 years) and are great marines will be the ones working a civilian job shaking their head.

Hindsight is 20/20 but right now ( in my opinion) the Marine Corp is making a big mistake pushing out some of these guys and keeping bad apples.